According to a recent study, one in five employees in the U.S. works during the evening, at night, or on rotating shifts. As scary as working the “graveyard shift” might seem to you, there are a number of reported advantages to working through the night. Night shift workers spend about 4.4 hours per day with their children, which is about 30 minutes per day more than day workers. More time during the day also means it can be easier to run errands, take care of personal matters, and spend more time in the sun.

Working the night shift isn’t for everyone though. One study reports that 29% of male night shift workers are dissatisfied with their job situation, compared to 19% of males who work during the day. In addition, some studies have found that there are certain health risks associated with working at night for a prolonged period of time.

In the following infographic, we’ll outline more advantages and disadvantages of working the graveyard shift, what industries you can find night shift work in, and additional research that relates to night shift work in the U.S.

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Very good. I work on-call night shift in IT. While I work from 5pm-4am I also have the added benefit of only going to the job site when called and having a 4-day work week. Don’t forget to negotiate things like schedule benefits such as mine when applying for night shift jobs!

Interesting infographic. I always find it funny how many people in my life are shocked that I sometimes am required to work graveyard shifts as an engineer. I’m curious about the statistic about less sleep though, because with the exception of the day when I’m transitioning to nights, I feel like I actually sleep better when I work nights